There are numerous window treatment products in the marketplace for regulating or completely blocking out incoming light and for affording privacy in homes and apartments. Window shades are generally pieces of opaque fabric or material which are spring wound about a roller rod, which in turn is hung near the top of the window. By lowering and raising the shade, a desired amount of incoming light may be allowed into a room. Horizontal blinds, commonly known as Venetian blinds, consist of thin horizontal slats that may be raised, lowered and set at a desired angle to regulate the amount of light admitted. Vertical blinds are generally made up of layered individual slats of plastic connected to an upper member which overlay each other and which may hang freely or may be connected to one another and which are controlled by a hanging cord or rod. Venetian blinds and verticals permit regulation of incoming light by pulling the cord or twisting the rod so that the individual slats open or close so that only the desired amount of light is permitted to enter.
Unfortunately, window shades, Venetian blinds and verticals are generally visually unattractive. There have been attempts to improve the attractiveness and aesthetic appeal of window shades. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,078,492 discloses a light transmitting window shade which provides the appearance of a stained glass window. This window shade is comprised of an elongated light transparent plastic sheet having a colored reproduction of a stained glass assembly on one surface of the sheet. This sheet is embossed or laminated to a second frosted base sheet to achieve the desired privacy. Both sheets are attached at one end to a spring loaded roller for mounting above or within a window pane and are extended by pulling the lower end of the sheets downward. These shades, however, are limited to the appearance of the stained glass windows, and do not provide a mechanism for altering the design of the window shade, once the shade has matured into a final product. Specifically, the design on these shades cannot be altered once the shade has been constructed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,408 discloses a detachable window ornament in the field of illuminated decorations, having a light transmissive front panel and an enclosure or plenum containing at least one light source and a power source. This decorative ornament is attached to the window by means of suction cups. This invention, however, requires a power source in order to be operable, and does not function akin to shades in regulating the amount of light entering through the window.
Other attempts at providing decorative window effects are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,713,958, 3,815,263, and 4,619,850. However, these references disclose methods for decorating windows by applying colored transparent sheets directly to the window. These methods afford little in the manner of manufacturing shades that would allow for regulation of the amount of light entering through the window.
Accordingly, there is a need for a decorative window treatment in the form of a shade which permits regulation of the amount of incoming light and which may also be provided in a variety of colorful designs that provide a unique effect on light passing through the shade.